Container



1962 D. v. HANLON 3,051,370

CONTAINER Filed Nov. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2o l9 klo I l3 l3 --la INVENTOR. DONALD V. HAN LON ATTORNEYS Aug. 28, 1962 D. v. HANLON 3, 5

CONTAINER Filed Nov. 9, 1959 2- Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. DONALD V. HANLON ATTORNEYS United States Patent() Delaware Filed Nov. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 851,799 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-51) This invention relates to containers and is particularly related with a spirally formed container having a teardown opening strip provided with a starting tab and means to strengthen the container wall in the area adjacent the starting tab.

An important object of the invenion is to strengthen the wall area of a container formed with a tear-down opening strip so that the container may be rendered suitable for packaging dough which is ready for baking when removed from refrigerated storage.

A variety of dough or biscuit wafer packages have been developed for the merchandising of ready-to-bake biscuit products. In certain containers investigated the method of opening has involved the provision of some means to break through or separate the container wall, as by requiring the consumer to tear the outer ply away in order sufficiently to weaken the wall strength so that the inner ply or plies could be ruptured. In others the container has been constructed of separable parts so that rupturing of the label has been sufiicient to permit opening operation without tearing away a wall ply. The problem in the first types of tear to open containers is to maintain strength in the area where the starting tabs are located throughout the life of the container. Also, since refrigeration is needed to arrest the action of the leavening agent in biscuits, it is important to maintain strength while the container is temporarily removed from the refrigerated atmosphere for transfer to store display cases and when being carried home after purchase.

Therefore, it is an important object of the invention to strengthen the wall area of a container to overcome the objectionable features of prior tear to open containers, and to accomplish this improvement without impairing the opening operation.

Other objects of this invention will be more particularly described in connection with a preferred embodiment of a container which has been illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container illustrating the starting tear tab and the means for strengthening the area of the tab;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 showing the starting tab partly pulled to reveal the opening operation;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1 showing the relationship of the plies which make up the container;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view on a reduced scale of the method of spirally winding the plies of the container shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a container body laid out flat and viewed from the inside, the several plies being shown in proper relation and certain plies having a corner portion peeled back to show the extent of adhesive areas.

The new construction of container shown in FIG. 1 is formed (by spiral winding methods illustrated only fragmentarily in FIG. 4. After forming, the container 10 is closed at the bottom by a metal base 11 having its rim crimped to form a secure closure. After being filled with dough wafers, or other product to be merchandi-sed therein, a cap 12 is crimped into position to securely close the same. The spiral winding of the container places the outer or label ply 13 on the exterior with one edge 14 lapping the adjacent edge of the label portion which precedes in the winding operation. The label ply is printed with suitable identifying lettering and designs, and in this connection a colored or identifying spot 15 is usually provided to indicate that a pull tab 16 has been cut and may be lifted out so that the container can be opened by tearing a narrow strip out of the body wall (FIG. 2) to weaken the wall so that pressure on the wall at the weakened tear will \break the inner plies and allow the container to be fully opened by oppositely twisting the closures l1 and 12.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 it can be seen that the container plies include a liner 18 adhesively secured to the inner wall ply 19. The composite layers 18 and 19 form strip A which moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4, and layers 13, 20 and 21 form a strip B as shown. The outer wall ply 20 is adhesively secured to the inner wall 19 and carries the outer label ply 13. The tear to open construction embodies a tear tape 21 which is wound between the wall plies 19 and 20 and acts to kill the adhesive bond therebetween. The continuous spiral winding apparatus has some means to chop the starting tab 16, and the result may be as seen in FIG. 4. As shown, the tape 21 and the wall ply 20 together are fed to the mandrel 22 with a label 13, the three layers being in superimposed condition to be chopped at the out line 23, which cut line has two parallel side cuts to form the tab 16 in the label ply 13, the wall ply 20 and in the tape 21. As the composite ribbon of plies in strip B is fed to the mandrel 22, the strengthening patch 24 is picked up and registers with the tab cut 23 to provide an extra thickness or ply in the area of the outer wall ply 20 which has been locally weakened by the out line 23. The patch 24 is adhesively disposed in its inter-ply location and alfords an area which is strong in tension to overcome the loss of tension strength when making the out line 23.

The container constructed as above described may have its liner ply 18 formed of metallic foil adhesively bonded to the inner wall ply 19 which is formed of chipboard material. The adhesive is, by preference, applied to both surfaces of the inner ply 19 (FIG. 5) so that in winding the strip it will carry the foil liner and provide an adhesive surface for the outer wall ply 20 which is formed of Kraft paper. The label ply 13 is adhesively bonded to the outer surface of the outer wall ply 20. The tear tape 21 formed of a suitable fabric material is disposed on the outer wall ply 20 adjacent the margin 19a of the inner wall ply so that when the plies are wound into the container tube form the margin 19b of the inner wall ply 19 forms a butt joint with margin 19a. The resulting butt joint at margins 19a and 19b is covered at the interior by the foil lap 18a. The tape 21 covers the adhesive on the inner wall ply and is bonded only to the outer ply. It is, therefore, free to act as a tearing means to rupture the outer wall ply 20 and the label ply 13. In the process of feeding the strips of ply material 13 and 20 to the mandrel 22 (FIG. 4), and after the plies 13, 20 and tear tape 21 have been aligned, the pull tab 16 is formed by making a cut, as at 23, through the plies 13, 20 and 21 thereby making it possible to lift the tab 16 from the exterior (FIG. 2). The area adjacent the cut 23 is reinforced by applying a patch piece 24 which is adhesively bonded between the surfaces of the inner and outer wall plies 19 and 20 and under the tear tape. The patch 24, thereby maintains the wall strength of the container which would otherwise be weakened due to the cutting of the pull tab 16. The relation of the plies, including the patch 24 and the tear tape 21 is clearly shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, and in FIG. 2 the tearing of the tape has uncovered the patch 24 and a portion of the butt joint margin 19b in the inner wall ply 19.

The opening operation for the container made according to this invention is performed, as partly shown in FIG. 2, by pulling the tab 16 in the spiral direction of the tape 21, and continuing the tear spirally around the body to the bottom closure 11. This exposes the butt joint at margins 19a and 19b in the inner wall ply 19 which may then be ruptured through the foil liner 18 to release the contents. Complete release of the contents is obtained by twisting the ends 11 and 12 to lay open and flatten out the container Wall. In a preferred container tube made as herein described, the inner foil 18 is about one eightieth as thick as the adjacent inner wall ply 19, and the outer wall ply 20 is about one-half to onethird the thickness of the iner wall ply 19. For example, the foil is .00035 inch, the chipboard ply 19 is .028 inch and the Kraft paper ply 20 is .010 inch. It is the purpose to provide a substantial proportion of the wall strength in the inner ply 19 and to fully seal the butt joint at 191: and 1% by the foil ply at the inside and by the outer ply 20 and label ply 13. It is a further purpose to have the outer Wall ply 20 formed of as light gauge material as possible to reduce the effort to tear it by the tape 21.

In a container of the present character, the exposure of the butt joint at 19a .and 1% gives precise control over the opening action and allows the internal pressure to cleanly rupture the 'foil liner 1-8, thereby avoiding the undesirable efiect of releasing such pressure at a local zone which could cause the contents to ooze or blow out and cause damage. While the foregoing description has made reference to preleavened biscuit dough, a great number of materials other than food might be packaged therein, whether or not subject to the generation of internal pressure.

It is understood that various changes or modifications may be made in the components of the container, and it is the aim to include equivalent structure and arrangement of components and parts within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A container for packaging material which is bodily removed therefrom without mutilation, said container comprising an inner wall ply spirally wound and with its margins forming a butt joint having a pitch to extend substantially completely about the circumference of the container, an outer wall ply spirally wound and over lying the butt joint in said inner Wall ply, said Wall plies being adhesively bonded throughout the contacting surfaces thereof, a tear tape disposed between said wall plies and pitched to extend substantially completely about the circumference of the container adjacent to said butt joint, said outer wall ply having a out line registered with said tape and including a cut transversely of said tape thereby forming a pull tab in said outer wall ply including a portion of said tape, and means disposed between said wall plies and underlying said tape in the area adjacent tosaid pull tab, said means being adhesively bonded to said inner wall ply and covering an area of said inner wall ply inclusive of said cut lines to reinforce the same in the area at said pull tab.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,936,417 Ware NOW. 21, 1933 2,120,629 Schunernann June 14, 1938 2,233,423 Magill Mar. 4, 1941 2,737,091 Robinson Mar. 6, 1956 2,775,395 Bergstrom Dec. 25, 1956 2,795,366 Magill June 11, 1957 2,811,455 Erekson Oct. 29, 1957 2,895,865 Humphner July 21, 1959 2,904,240 Southwell Sept. 15, 1959 

